Madrid mayhem
Real Madrid beats rival Atletico Madrid in an eight-goal thriller to reach the Spanish Super Cup final.
Real Madrid might have beaten arch-rival Barcelona to lift the Spanish Super Cup for the 13th time, but it arguably played its best match of the tournament against city rival Atletico Madrid in the semifinal. Atletico struck first blood in the sixth minute from a corner. Antoine Griezmann’s inch-perfect delivery found an unmarked Mario Hermoso, who headed the ball inside the net.
But the lead did not last long as Real equalised in the 20th minute. Luka Modric whipped in a curling delivery inside the Atletico box from a corner, as Antonio Rudiger towered above everyone to rattle the net.
Alvaro Morata and Rodrygo had chances to give a lead to their respective teams but failed and lacked the necessary composure to find the net.
The breakthrough came again in the 29th minute — this time from an unlikely source in Ferland Mendy, who found the net after over two years. With a flowing team move,
Ancelotti’s men flocked to Atletico’s final third to put pressure on them. Jude Bellingham spread the ball to Dani Carvajal on the right, whose cross into the box was poked into the net by Mendy with a deft touch.
The game turned out to be a delight for neutrals as Atletico found the equaliser this time through Antoine Griezmann, who received Rodrigo De Paul’s pass near the box. Chopping back inside, he drilled a right-footed shot in the bottom-left corner, past a diving Kepa Arrizabalaga.
With the scoreline at 2-2, the second-half was poised for drama, and the match did not disappoint as Rudiger scored an own goal in the 78th time to the delight of Atletico, which thought it had one hand on the trophy.
However, Real Madrid continued its tradition of scoring late equalisers against its city rivals as Carvajal scored in the 85th minute to equalise. While Bellingham’s initial shot was cleared off the line, the Atletico backline wasn’t proactive in clearing the danger, which allowed Carvajal to rifle the loose ball into the top corner.
With the match entering extra-time, it seemed like the semifinal would be decided on penalties, but substitute Joselu had other ideas as he found the net in the 116th minute for a Los Blancos lead.
Brahim Diaz then wasted no time in adding another. With Atletico desperate to score the equaliser, Jan Oblak was asked to move up and join the attack — a decision, which backfired as Diego Simeone’s men were caught out in possession, allowing Diaz to make it 5-3.